About me
I am Pascale, I am French and I have not always been a teacher!
My journey
I spent twenty-two years of my life working in the field of industrial gases as an executive in sales, maketing and product management positions. At 45 years old, a bit worn out by my job, I definitely needed a new start, a job where I could have a direct impact on people, a job that engages my heart and soul. I had a dream, that was to teach kids in South East Asia. After a month-long trip to Laos and Cambodia in 2014, it became clear that it could become a reality.
So, I quit my well-paid job to go to San francisco, USA, to take a teacher training and get a CELTA certificate – certificate to teach English as a second language. That was a really wonderful and empowering training experience. Then I went to Laos and settled in Vientiane, which was the non bustling, laidback capital city I was looking for. I found a job as an English teacher. I was teaching English. I was so thrilled. My dream had come true.
I have been teaching for six years now. I taught beginner and intermediate English for five years to 8- to 17-year-old kids. I loved it and decided I would like to be able to teach my native language, French, as well. So, I set out to take a DAEFLE, a distance course to get a certificate to teach French. I am now a French teacher at a secondary international school.
Being a teacher
One becomes a teacher through both practice and the buiding of a relationship.
Creating a relationship with one’s students means to put your guts on the table, working with your brain is not enough. When it works well, it is so rewarding that you wonder why you are paid for doing this job, as you reap so much positive energy from it!
Teaching is also about practice. Being a teacher is truly a craftsman’s work. Practice makes perfect. It is through practice, research, and mistakes that you hone your skills. It is an endless learning curve.
My educational philosophy
I always strive to create a safe and secure environment so as to build mutual trust and foster speaking interactions as I believe speaking, however fearful, is paramount in the acquisition of a language. Making mistakes is a large part of the process.
Learning should be fun, especially when learning a living language. I always try to make the learning experience dynamic and memorable to engage the students and make the learning process more effective using original or fun materials and activities.
Learning a language is an opportunity to discover a new culture, a new civilisation. Therefore, I strive to incorporate cultural elements to whet the students’ curiosity for a new world and mindset.
In the end I just hope that my students will want to learn more not only about the language, but also about the culture.
As Yeats said “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire”.